The toy rocket
by Ivygreen
Summary: Charles gets upset when Timothy breaks a promise.


I don't own Timothy or any of the characters therein. This is just for fun, not profit.

* * *

"Charles, it's almost time for bed," the gray mouse's mother called from the hallway.

"But I still haven't found it!" Charles protested.

His mother stopped in the bedroom doorway and looked at the chaos inside. The floor was covered in toys, and all she could see of her son was his tail as he threw more toys from his closet over his shoulder, where they landed in the large pile on the floor.

"I can't find it. Where could it be?" Charles sighed, sitting down heavily on top of a rubber duck. It squeaked and Charles' eyes opened wide. He pulled the duck out from under him and placed it on top of a puzzle book.

"Maybe you should have looked for it earlier instead of waiting until bedtime," his mother said gently.

"I know. But I was so excited about the marble set Timothy gave me I couldn't stop myself from playing with it. And now I can't find the rocket to give him at school tomorrow," Charles sighed again, his ears drooping.

"Tell you what. I'll help you. In the meantime, you go brush your teeth and wash your face, ok?"

Charles nodded. "Ok."

He ran into the bathroom. His mother looked at the mess on the floor and shook her head. Picking up the rubber duck she murmured, "That's not what he wants."

She tossed the duck back into the closet and picked up the puzzle book. One by one she looked at each item and discarded it by throwing it in the closet. Soon the floor was spotless, but she still hadn't found the toy rocket.

"Did you find it, Mom?" Charles asked, running back into his room.

"I'm afraid not. Can you think where you might have put it?"

Charles stroked his chin thoughtfully. "If it isn't here, then where – oh! Now I remember!"

He went over to his backpack and opened it. His mother looked on as her son pulled out the toy rocket. "I put it here as soon as I got home from school because I didn't want to forget to give it to Timothy. But then I forgot it was in my bag!" he laughed.

His mother rubbed the top of his head. "I'm glad you found it. Now put on your pajamas and I'll read you a story before bed. How does that sound?"

"Great!" Charles said eagerly.

* * *

When Henry stopped the school bus to pick up Timothy next morning, Charles leaned out the window and hollered, "Timothy! Come sit next to me! I have a surprise for you!"

"Okay, Charles!" Timothy called back. He boarded the bus and made his way down the aisle, climbing up onto the seat next to his friend. As the bus continued on its journey Charles said, "I spent a lot of time playing marbles last night. I'm really good at it now!"

"Way to go, Charles!" Timothy said.

"So I wanted to give you something in return. Here it is!" Charles said, taking the toy rocket out of his backpack and putting it in Timothy's hands.

The raccoon was taken aback. When Charles told him he had a surprise, Timothy thought that was when Charles told him how good he'd become at playing marbles.

"Wow, Charles. This is great! Thanks!" Timothy said, examining the toy rocket excitedly.

"My Dad gave it to my for my birthday last year, but he's going to buy me a bigger one next week so I decided to give this to you," Charles explained.

The Franks poked their heads over the back of Charles' and Timothy's seat. "Nice rocket, Timothy," said Frank 1.

"Yes, it is very nice," Frank 2 said.

"Thanks, guys. Charles gave it to me."

"Yes, we heard," Frank 1 said.

"That was nice of you, Charles," Frank 2 said.

Charles smiled at them and turned back to Timothy. "I'll show you all its special features at break, okay?"

"Sure! I can't wait to play with it!" Timothy grinned.

When they got to school, Timothy put his backpack in his cubby, took the toy rocket and carried it with him to the classroom. He sat down at a table and carefully set the rocket upright.

"Ooh, where did you get that, Timothy?" Nora asked, stopping on the way to her own table.

"Charles gave it to me on the bus."

"It's really cool! I wonder if it can fly to the moon."

Timothy chuckled. "Probably not."

"That's a beautiful rocket, Timothy," Yoko said as she sat down next to the raccoon, placing her box of colored pencils in front of her.

"Thanks. I got it from Charles."

"I like the little windows," Yoko said, peering at the small round windows on the rocket's body.

"Yeah, Charles and I are going to play with it at recess. He's going to show me all the neat features it has."

"Quick sticks, children! Everyone sit down. This morning we'll have singing and I'll teach you a new dance," Miss Jenkins said.

"Goodie! What kind of dance, Mrs. Jenkins?" Grace asked.

"You'll see," the adult fox smiled.

* * *

The class sang a few songs while their teacher accompanied them on piano. Afterwards she taught them how to tango. Many of the students caught on to it quickly, but a few had trouble remembering all the steps, like Doris and Lilly.

"Why don't you two practice the dance a little bit more," Mrs. Jenkins said encouragingly. "I'll play the piano and call out the moves for you."

Doris nodded. "Okay, Mrs. Jenkins."

She and Lilly went through the steps again. The other students, who were watching from the sidelines, called out encouragement to their friends.

"Take Lilly's arm, Doris!" Claude called out.

"And spin her around!" Nora yelled.

"Yes, like this!" Frank 2 said, grabbing hold of his twin brother's arm and doing a brief pirouette. The two bulldogs spun round and round, getting so dizzy they lost their balance and crashed into the box of clothes the class used to play dress-up. Everyone laughed at them, even Mrs. Jenkins.

"Okay children, that's enough for now. Time for recess," she said.

The kids cheered and rushed towards the exit. Timothy made a detour to his desk, picked up his rocket and followed the others. When he got outside he saw that Charles was already waiting for him at the sandbox.

"Let's build a tower for the rocket to take off from," the gray mouse said as Timothy sat down next to him.

"Okay, that's a good idea!" Timothy and Charles started trying to form the sand into a tower, but it wouldn't hold its shape.

"I think we need something more sturdy, like a stick," Timothy said.

Charles nodded and made a face. "Um, I think I have to use the washroom. I'll be right back."

He jumped out of the sandbox and ran back inside the school. Timothy looked around for an appropriate stick they could use to build the rocket's tower, but found nothing.

"Hi, Timothy. What are you looking for?" Fritz asked as he approached the young raccoon, holding a small plastic bag.

"Charles and I want to build a tower for my rocket, but we need a stick and I can't find any."

"Wow, you have a rocket? Can I see it?"

"Sure." Timothy gave his toy to Fritz. The badger turned it over and over, fascinated. "Interesting. It has a retractable folding ramp," he said, pulling out the ramp.

Timothy was delighted. "I can put passengers inside and take them out again!"

"Yep. And there are two shelves right there," Fritz pointed. "The astronauts can stock up with food and other supplies before blasting off into space."

"But how can they blast off if we didn't find any sticks to build the rocket tower?" Timothy protested.

Fritz smiled and opened the plastic bag, revealing dozens of Popsicle sticks inside.

"Hey, that's just what we need! Let's get started!" Timothy said.

Fritz tipped the sticks out of the bag. "I'll build the tower right here."

"Ahem."

Timothy and Fritz looked up to see Charles glaring at them. "Hi, Charles," Fritz said.

"Timothy, I thought I said I was going to show you what the rocket can do?" Charles demanded.

Timothy was embarrassed. He looked at Fritz, who appeared taken aback. Then he looked at Charles, who turned around and stormed off.

"What was that all about?" Fritz asked.

The bell rang, ending recess. Timothy snatched the rocket from Fritz, who sat open-mouthed as the young raccoon rushed inside the school building.

* * *

"Now, children, we shall have a puzzle competition. The last time we did, Grace and Claude finished first. I wonder who will win today," Mrs. Jenkins said.

"We'll win again," Claude boasted.

"I bet you won't!" Doris protested.

"We'll have to wait and see. Everyone, find a partner and sit down," their teacher said.

Timothy looked around and started to panic when he saw Fritz heading his way, still looking confused. Timothy didn't want to pair up with Fritz because he thought if Charles saw them working together he would get even more angry.

"Yoko, can I work with you?" he asked as the gray kitten walked past, on her way over to Lilly who was jumping up and down waving her arms wildly in the air.

"Um…" Yoko looked at Lilly, then at Timothy and back at Lilly. "I think…"

Fritz was getting closer. "Please," Timothy whispered.

Yoko shrugged. "Okay." She looked over at Lilly and pointed to Timothy. Lilly was disappointed for a few seconds until Doris joined her.

"Thanks, Yoko." Timothy glanced over his shoulder at Fritz, relieved to see he had gone somewhere else.

"Is everyone seated? Yes? Then please begin," Mrs. Jenkins called out.

Cheerful chattering filled the room as the students started working on their puzzles. Timothy wasn't one of them; he was unusually quiet and spent a lot of time staring aimlessly at the puzzle piece in his hand. He couldn't stop thinking about how he'd betrayed Charles and been rude to Fritz.

"Timothy, are you feeling all right?" Yoko asked a few minutes later.

"Sure. Why?" the raccoon said.

"Well, you haven't done anything since the puzzle contest started."

Timothy lowered his chin to the table and sighed, ears drooping. "Remember what I told you about my rocket this morning? And how Charles was going to show me all its features?"

"Yes, I remember," Yoko replied.

"Well, it didn't work out that way. Charles went to the washroom and while he was gone I met Fritz. We started talking about the rocket and Fritz ended up showing me everything instead!" Timothy groaned again. "Then Charles came back and saw us playing together and got mad. I didn't know what to tell him or Fritz so I just ran back inside when recess was over."

"Oh. I see." Yoko thoughtfully connected another piece of their puzzle. She said nothing for a while and Timothy fell back into his troubled reverie.

"Is Fritz mad at you too?" the kitten asked.

"Huh? No, but I think he doesn't understand why I ran away from him."

"Mrs. Jenkins, we're finished!" Grace called out as Claude smirked next to her.

"Aww, not again! We were so close, right, Lilly?" Doris said.

"Yeah, we only have one piece left." The young fox snapped the last puzzle piece into place.

"Well done, Grace and Claude. You too, Doris and Lilly."

Timothy looked at his puzzle. There were still three pieces left to fill in. "Sorry. It looks like I'm letting you down today too."

Yoko smiled. "It's just a puzzle, Timothy."

"Let's try and get third place!" Timothy grabbed two pieces and quickly rotated them in his hands. "That one goes there – no, there – yes! And that one fits there. Quick, Yoko! Put the last piece in!"

The gray kitten did so and raised her hand in the air. "Mrs. Jenkins, Timothy and I are done."

"So I see. Good work," their teacher said, coming over to look at the completed puzzle.

"We're done too!" Nora hollered, Charles sitting sullenly next to her.

Timothy noted the expression on his friend's face and thought quickly. "Mrs. Jenkins, may I please go talk to Charles?"

"All right."

Timothy went over to Charles' and Nora's table. "Nice puzzle, you guys," he said, looking at their finished work.

"You like frogs? Eww!" Nora exclaimed, screwing her face up in disgust.

Charles said nothing, turning aside wistfully. Timothy took a deep breath and said, "Charles, I'm really sorry Fritz and I started playing with the rocket before you came back. I forgot what you told me, honest. I didn't do it on purpose."

Charles turned to the young raccoon. "You didn't?"

"Of course not! I'm your friend, remember?"

"Oh." Charles blushed. "I thought that since you and Fritz are such good friends you preferred to play with him instead of me."

"But I would never do that!" Timothy protested. "How about you come over and we both play rocket ship this evening after school? My dad can take you home afterwards."

Charles perked up. "I'd like that."

"Maybe I can borrow some Popsicle sticks from Fritz. He has lots and wanted to build the rocket tower with them."

"He did?" Charles exclaimed. "Why don't we all play together after lunch?"

Timothy broke into a smile. "You don't mind?"

Charles shook his head. "Not any more."

The lunch bell rang. Timothy grinned at Charles. "Let's sit next to Fritz. We can come up with ideas about what we want to play."

"I know! 'Rocket Rangers escape from Alien Asteroids'." Charles looked up and saw Fritz disappearing into the cloakroom. "Fritz, wait for us!"

He and Timothy ran after the badger, passing Timothy's desk as they did so. On top of the desk the toy rocket stood, its small windows reflecting the sunlight that came in from outside.

THE END


End file.
